Title: Chocolate devastation (part 2)
Categories: Desserts, Chocolate, Ice cream
Yield: 12 servings
- directions continued
MOCHA MERINGUE: Using a 9" cake circle (or cake plate) as a guide,
trace a circle on each of 3 sheets of parchment paper (cut to fit the
baking sheets) with a pencil. Turn each sheet of parchment paper over
and place with the trace mark down on a baking sheet. Preheat the
oven to 250~. Combine together in a sifter the confectioners' sugar,
cornstarch, and cocoa. Sift onto the wax paper and set aside until
needed. Heat 1" of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over
medium-high heat. Place 8 egg whites, 3/4 cup sugar, the espresso
powder, the cream of tartar, and the salt in the top half of the
double boiler. Heat the egg white mixture to a temperature of 120~
while gently and constantly whisking, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the
mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip.
Whisk on high until stiff but not dry, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to fold in
the sifted dry ingredients. Fill a pastry bag (with no tip) with
about a third of the meringue. Fill a traced circle with meringue:
start in the center and pipe a 1/2" wide spiral toward the ouside of
the circle. Fill the pastry bag again and repeat this procedure with
each of the 2 remaining circles (each circle should be filled with
about a third of the original amount of meringue.) Place the
meringues in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. Reduce the oven
temperature to 225~ and bake for an additional 2 hours. Cool on
baking sheets for 30 minutes before handling.
THE GANACHE: Heat 2 cups heavy cream, the butter, and 2 tablespoons
sugar in a 2 1/2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, stir
to dissolve the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Place 8 oz
semi-sweet chocolate and 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate in a
stainless bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow
to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Reserve 1 cup of ganache
and set aside at room temperature. Pour the remaining amount of
ganache onto a baking sheet with sides and refrigerate for 35-40
minutes. Pour 1/4 cup of the reserved room-temperature ganache onto
the center of a baked meringue (supported by a cake circle). Remove
an ice-cream disk from the freezer. Unwrap the disk and place it onto
the puddle of ganache. Press down on the ice cream disk gently but
firmly (this will spread the ganache). Fill a pastry bag fitted with
a medium-sized star tip with one-third of the chilled ganache. Pipe
about 28-30 individual vertical strips 1 1/2" long and 3/4" wide--all
the way around the side of the ice cream disk (each strip should be
touching the other, and each strip should also be wider at the base
where it touches the meringue and tapered at the crest where it rises
to the top edge of the ice cream disk). Place this section into the
freezer and repeat the preceding procedure with another meringue and
ice cream disk. Place in the freezer after completion for about 10-15
minutes. Remove a meringue and ice cream section from the freezer.
Pour 1/4 cup of room-temperature ganache onto the center of the ice
cream. Remove the second section from the freezer, and center onto
the first. Press down on the ice cream, gently but firmly, to spread
the ganache. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup of room-temperature genache
onto the top ice cream disk, and onto this ganache place the
remaining baked meringue, once again pressing down gently but firmly
to spread the ganache. Place the Devastation in the freezer for about
10-15 minutes. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a medium-sized star tip
with the remaining chilled ganache. Remove the Devastation from the
freezer. Starting 1/2" inside the edge of the top meringue, pipe a
ring of about 28-30 individual strips--1 1/2" long and 3/4" wide--all
the way around the top (each strip should be touching the other, and
each strip should also be wider at the point closest to the edge and
tapered at the point closest to the center). Return the completed
Devastation to the freezer for at least 1 hour before serving. To
serve, cut the Devastation with a serrated slicer. Heat the blade of
the slicer under hot running water before making each slice. Allow
the slices to come